This invention relates to novel substituted 3-nitrobenzensulfonamides compounds used as sensitizers of hypoxic tumor cells to therapeutic radiation. It also relates to a method of enhancing the therapeutic effect of radiation which comprises administering to a patient in need of such radiation treatment an effective amount of a substituted 3-nitrobenzensulfonamide and to pharmaceutical compositions containing a therapeutically effective amount of said substituted 3-nitrobenzensulfonamide.
At the present time, certain other unrelated compounds are in experimental clinical use as radiation sensitizers. However, these compounds--for example, metronidazole and misonidazole--suffer from the drawback that they also cause neurotoxicity which limits their usefulness. The compounds useful in the present invention are effective radiation sensitizers and are believed to have a more favorable therapeutic ratio.